Election Board temporarily moving to Expo Center

James Beaty, McAlester News-Capital, Okla.
·2 min read

Aug. 21—County employees loaded desks, chairs and other furniture onto a trailer early Monday to relocate the Pittsburg County Election Board to the southeast Expo center.

This marks the fourth time the County Election Board office has temporarily relocated to another site in recent years.

"We're used to it by now," said County Election Board Secretary Tonya Barnes.

Barnes said the County Election Board's temporary new location will be on the second floor at the Expo Center.

Election Board offices can be accessed by an elevator close to the Expo Center's front entrance.

The relocation came about after flood water ran underneath walls and onto the carpeted floor of the County Election Board Office during the last round of heavy rains.

Water damage resulted in all of the carpet getting ripped from the floor. Also, the Oklahoma State Election Board picked up approximately 55 voting machines for transport to Oklahoma City to ensure the machines were not damaged by the damp conditions.

While the County Election Board's relocation to the Expo Center is planned to be temporary, early in-person voting for the upcoming Sept. 12 elections in the city of McAlester and the Frink-Chambers School District is expected to be held at the Expo Center.

Early in-person absentee ballot voting is now slated to be held from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Sept. 7-8, the Thursday and Friday prior to the Sept. 12 election, at the County Election Board's new Expo Center location.

On Monday District 1 workers Dalton Pingleton, Brian Bedford, Joe Kerns and Colin Sanders loaded County Election Board furniture onto a trailer for transport to the Expo Center.

County commissioners plan to have some of the County Election Board's sheetrock walls torn out in an effort to find the source of water that previously flooded the office.

Before they could do that, they had to first find a site where the County Election Board office and employees could be temporarily relocated while work is ongoing to find how water is entering the office.

Barnes said the front office in the election board's current location in the courthouse annex will remain open until the move to the Expo Center is complete.

In addition to moving furniture, computers and other equipment, the Election Board's phone and fax lines will also have to be set up to work at the Expo Center offices.